This government meeting is brought to you by Eastworks and our local cable subscribers. >> We're saving money on power >> 602. Good evening everyone. We are going to call to order this regular session rescheduled meeting of
the East Hampton School Committee. Uh, one of our members, Dr. Harvey, can you please do undo that thing that you just did? >> Thank you. >> However it was before is perfection. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you. Appreciate you, Nathan. Um, um, I was saying something. Oh, uh, Dr. Dr. Harvey is joining us remotely, so we are going to roll call for every vote, including calling to order. Uh, Mayor Salem Derby, >> present. >> Bonnie Atkins, >> present. >> Eric Guyette,
>> here. >> Megan Harvey, >> here. >> Sam Hunter, >> here. >> Linda Marquee, >> here. >> Laura Scott, present. We're going to move on to our consent agenda. Um, we will entertain a motion. Oh, sorry. Go ahead.
>> Second, Harry. >> Oh, that's finance. Never mind. Yeah. >> I'll entertain a motion to approve the finance and other consent agenda items as written on the agenda. >> So moved. >> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Sam and Linda. Uh we're going
to roll call again. Mayor, >> yes. >> Bonnie Atkins, >> yes. >> Eric Ayat, >> Epstein. >> Megan Harvey, >> yes. >> Sam Hunter, >> yes. >> Linda Marquee, >> yes. >> Um and Laura Scott, yes. So the consent agenda passes. We're going to move on to
announcements. Okay. Secretary, go ahead. >> Sure. >> Uh, on May 30th, 2026, East Hampton Public Schools technology department hosted an electronics recycling event. The event raised $2,500.
I entertain a motion to accept the funds raised at the technology recycling event held on the May 30th in the amount of $2,500 and to deposit those funds into the Chromebook repair revolving account. So moved. >> Thank you, Sam. >> Can we get a second?
>> Second. >> Thank you, Linda. Okay, we're going to roll call again. Uh, Mayor, >> yes. >> Bonnie, >> yes. >> Eric, >> yes. >> Megan, >> yes. >> Sam, >> yes. >> Linda, >> yes. >> And Laura Scott, yes. I just wanted to say thank you to the tech team for sort
of taking the charge to it was we actually earned money, but what we were able to do is also get a get rid of a lot of outdated technology at no cost. So, we were able to clear a lot of things out. Um, and Julia Sari Franks
was the money collector and they did it in the pouring rain. Um, thank you to everyone who donated and we hope to do this every year as a way to help um cut costs for repairs that families um if you know if it's an accidental, we want
to be able to um repair any Chromebooks. >> So, wonderful. Two birds with one stone as it is. Thank you so much for both of you. >> Eric, do we have a second >> gift? >> Yes. Um, an additional $44,3726 was received in don Thank you. in
donations for the We the People from Individuals, local businesses, and through fundraising at the Spaghetti Supper. Um, so entertain a motion to accept the $44,3726 in donations from East Hampton Public
Schools families and local community to go towards the We the People program. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Sam. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Linda. We're going to roll call again. Mayor, >> yes. >> Bonnie, >> yes. >> Eric, >> yes. >> Megan,
>> yes. >> Sam, >> yes. >> Linda, >> yes. >> And Laura Scott, yes. Thank you so much. what an incredible community that every year really steps up to show their support for those we the people kids. Um we I think we are all approached regularly with people who um are filled
with praise for Kelly Brown and her team at the high school and for um the incredible example that her students have set in the past and continue to set moving forward. Uh we love we the people and um looks like we're going to keep it guys. So that's great. Yay.
Um, we do not have Well, Jess, let me pause. Do you have a student representative update? >> Yes. >> Okay. Our Mountain View representative, um, Mr. Henry Lagana is enjoying a feta fet with his eighth grade peers at their
semi- formal this evening. So, he is unable to join us, but we will see him for his last meeting as a student rep in July. But, we do have Jess Atkins Barber here with us from Eastampton High School. Jess, take it away. >> All righty. Um so currently as we speak the APU's history students are presenting their end of year local
history projects. These projects were worked on over the past month and involved intense research using places like Forbes UMass and the local East Hammond Historical Society along with many other places. So that's a presentation to parents to the general public to people from the libraries and
places where we got all of our info from. Um I actually just came for my presentation. Um so that was kind of fun. Um, and then currently over I guess the past bit of time, the we the people students have been doing a book group with older members of our community, creating some cool multigenerational connections. And then last Friday, the
drama club had their end of year banquet. That was pretty fun. There were some senior sendoffs. So, some people get to write some statements about uh some of the seniors who are leaving us and how they've affected them. And then, let's see. And of course, the class of
2026 graduated on the 5th from EHS um with three retiring with the three retiring principles as their commencement speakers. Um on the 28th of May, the student council had their end of year banquet event giving out awards and celebrating kind of the whole year.
And then on the 26th of May, the East Tampa Learning Foundation had their showcase with presentations from the Elf Jazz Band and other organizations sponsored by the foundation. On the 21st, members of the student council will go to the National Vision Conference at Pinkerton Academy in New
Hampshire. We'll be able to connect with students from across the country and hear um from well-known keynote speakers, so that will be pretty cool. And then finally, on the 22nd is the last day of school at Mountain View. And the following day is the last day for the high school. Um currently finals for
the high school are tomorrow and Thursday. And on Monday next week, um there will be some fun field day-esque activities indoors. And if you skip that Monday, it will be counted as an unexcused absence. >> Okay, let's highlight that for the community because it's a little weird this year.
>> This Friday, June 19th, no school because Junth is a holiday. The following week, Monday, June 22nd, is the last day of school and a half day for elementary and middle school students. the full day for the high
school then or a full finals day for the high school. Tuesday, June 23rd is a half day and the last day of school for the high school. You will remember we had to close the high school uh for the override vote. So, we had to tack another day onto the end of the school
calendar for the high school. So, Monday last day for elementary and middle school, Tuesday last day for the high school. All right, for hook for the six people watching, tell your friends. >> Okay. >> Yeah, no rush. >> All right. Thank you so much, Jess. That
was great. Um, at this point, we are going to move to public comment. If anyone in the room would like to join us, thank you so much. And if anyone joining us online, if you want to raise your virtual hand and we will get to you in
the order in which we see your weird little hand. All right. Sure. Go ahead. And is make just is there a green light on your mic? Great. Go ahead whenever you're ready. >> Hi, I'm Kira Hener from Maple Street. Um I plan to send this letter to the city council finance committee members and
I'd like to share it with you all now. Thankfully, the override has passed and we are momentarily safe from the most devastating cuts to our school system. However, expecting the schools to cut more than $900,000 is still detrimental.
It also does not align with our community's values which were clearly and overwhelmingly stated from both sides during the last few weeks and in the successful vote to pass the override. There is evidence to support that the health of a school system is a reliable
indicator for the overall health of a community. Now is the time to invest in and support our schools so that our community will not just sustain but will thrive. This is a pivotal turning point for our community and the voters have decided
they want our schools and our community to thrive. In order for this to happen, budgetary decisions must be made based on our community values. I witnessed this work beginning to happen at your last finance meeting in which you made
cuts to lines that were not essential to legally required positions, programs, services, or revenue generators, leaving the majority of our city services intact. However, expecting the schools to cut more than $900,000 will compromise the
programs, services, and education that are essential to our students. The money cut from the budget last week should be reallocated to the schools so as to minimize the negative impact. One step in future budget planning is to review the ways in which the city can generate
more revenue. One way to do this is to ensure our schools have the money available to provide the services our students need and deserve. This will make a difference for many families who might be considering choicing out. It will also make a difference for families in surrounding communities who are
looking to choice into an adequately resourced school district. Please do whatever you can to lessen the cuts to the schools. This is one of those situations where saving some money now will end up costing much more money later. More importantly, the educational
impact costs are what is at stake for some of our most vulnerable residents, our children. Thank you. >> Thank you, Cara. Um, is there anyone else who'd like to share their thoughts tonight? Okay. And anyone online? Do not see. Let me give it a couple
seconds to make sure. Okay. All right. Seeing no further interest, we are going to close public comment. Um, if you were looking at a copy of our agenda, the next item on the agenda was the district showcase. Um we don't have all of our student representatives here with us
tonight. So we're going to delay that district showcase until our next meeting in July. We have also um just today rescheduled that meeting. It was originally going to be July 14th and we are going to push that back one week to July 21 just to make sure that we're
accommodating um some of our the folks from our team who might be out of town on the week of the 14th. So, our next school committee meeting will be July 21 wherein we would like to make sure that um Jess Atkins Barber, um Walter Baker, and Henry Lagana are are all going to be
with us so we can um just have a special evening to celebrate them. All right, moving on to our superintendent update. I just touched the water. >> Okay. >> Okay. All right. Thank you all so much.
Um, I have our I have our department budget update um for your consideration this evening. Um, and just to remind us and ground us in our core values of who we are as a school community. Our four core values are learning, equity,
belonging, and shared responsibility. And our budget should reflect our core values and our ideals and our beliefs about um public our our education system in East Hampton. And just a reminder again, I feel like I've said this slide many times, but um the school
committee's role in the budget process is to oversee the development of the school budget. And as the superintendent is my work and the work of the business director to oversee um that that budget process and you know make the necessary
changes within the allocated amount by the school committee. Um, and I just I needed to just take a second to say um, we did it. Um, we had a successful override and um, what does that mean for
our schools? Um, I feel like I was part of a miracle. Um, and I'm, you know, I knew if anybody could do it, it would be East Hampton. Um, and what what does that mean for the schools? Um, and what it does is it preserves a vast majority of our programming, sports, athletics,
clubs, and staff. And you know, so we don't have to cut as many staff as as we had originally, you know, if the override was not successful. And what that provides greater stability for our students were able to be in, you know, start the innovation process that we've
been talking about and wanting to do in this community for a long time. Um and again it allows us to keep the work going um really in incorporate our values into the process and it reflects you know the community's investment and
I want to say thank you to our staff, families, the community for your resilience, support and commitment to our students. Uh we also recognize that the investment comes at a cost to the residents and the families and we're very very grateful for the community's
confidence. Um and we remain committed throughout this process to being fiscally responsible with public resources. Um we've done that you know at our FY27 presentation. We will continue to do that. I think we're all we all agree that you know anywhere
where we can be cutting where we can cut costs that is in the best interest of serving our students we will um and we will continue to be as innovative as we need to be to make sure that we are being fiscally responsive but um responsible but also being responsive to
the needs of the community. So we presented originally sort of the two budget scenarios and you know we had a successful override but we're still we still have to cut 922603 from our budget. Um but the scenario 2
without an override it would have been a budget cut of um just about 3 million. So um the the difference in our budget categories is mostly from staffing. So if we look at what we proposed um for FY27
um and what we actually the the uh with the decrease you'll see it's a decrease of 3.69 from our FY27 proposal. So um it is an increase over last year of uh 1,252,510
um66. So, uh, there were some contractual obligations, transportations. We'll talk a little bit about those. You can see the categories here. So, on this slide right here, you'll see sort of our account descriptions, and this is the city's ledger. So, this is what we
present to the city and is approved by city council and the mayor. When we look at this process, you'll see what we requested in FY27 is column five, and we have a successful override. And then you can see the last
column is the reductions in each of those budget categories. So from personnel, we'll have to cut $713,59.50. Um it is still, you know, it's it's going to impact um some educators and
some staff in in the in the district. Um and anywhere we could cut from services, materials um and some other line items we did. But again, if we look at where the majority of our spending is for for the schools,
it is in staffing. So that's going to take the largest cut um the largest hit with the cuts. So um here's by line item sort of the cost centers here of where we're going to make those cuts. And here again, these are by the major
budget categories. You'll see what we proposed for FY27. And then you'll see the scenario one, which we keep talking about is which is where we are, which is the successful override. And you can see sort of where we've cut um a little bit in tuition is
sort of fixed cost, right? Transportation, utilities is a fixed cost. Um you'll see um sort of all of the other those are those supply line items. Those are professional development contracted services. Then you'll see transportation. We made some
small changes there. Anywhere we could cut we did. Um and then again the personnel line item. And you can see the percentages of the budget that sort of align with those major budget categories next to there. So u personnel um 68% of
our budget. So, you know, 70% of our budget is in personnel. Um, and you know, we're t we've talked a lot about staffing and um staffing has been it's very complicated and um it
changes minuteby minute. It's changing hourly for us and it would be um very premature of me to stand in front of you and to tell you which positions are going to be cut. I can tell you the total amount that will be cut, but right
now we have about four job offers out and depending on sort of who's taking which positions, it depends on the salary of those individuals. But what I can tell you is what our main major main goal right now is to recall as many
educators as possible. um and hopefully they accept positions. But unfortunately some of our educators um because they received those non-renewal notices or reduction in force have you know they they went and sought employment elsewhere and some people have made the
decision um that you know in their the best interest of their family or whatever to take jobs elsewhere. So, um I I don't have those numbers, but what I can tell you it's between five and six positions in the schools that will be
cut um based on this, but really it is it's been um the last few days have been sort of this jigsaw. Um Julia and I have sat in my office, right? As soon as like an email comes in or information comes in, we're changing spreadsheets. We're
moving numbers around. We're switching accounts from Mountain View and EHS depending on who's picking up what positions um and resignations at this time. So, I'm not able to really talk about it, but I will say because of the override, we are in a far better
situation than um without the override because the difference was completely in staffing, right? the difference between we'll just call it roughly 3 million and a million $2 million basically in staff that we had to come up with. So we are
much more stable. I feel you know we're still taking some cuts. Do I want to make the cuts? No. But um we have we have to make them. But again, it's all about preserving right this the resources, the supports so that there's no, you know, as limited
as limiting as much as we can impact on students, I think is the overall goal. And we will continue to work probably all summer to make that happen for kids. And I mean, you know, this is sort of regular business that happens in a school district, right? People resign, you rehire. It's sort of it it does eb
and flow a little bit. Um but again, we still have to make the cuts from our that line item, that personnel line item budget. Um but what it does, what we can say now is that we're able to um continue with athletics and after school clubs for
students, which um is amazing. So grateful for that that students will have access to um after school clubs and athletics. And we are going to have to make a couple uh like we had mentioned before a couple you know if there are a couple clubs that have low enrollment
we'll have to make the decision to not offer that club after school but each of the principles at both Mountain View and MVS went through their budget and any supply line item or any purchase that could be sort of pushed back is pushed
back. So, we talked about, you know, some um wireless access points and things. If we can push it off, we will. And we have. So, um I I give a lot of credit to the principles for, you know, making sure that they looked at every line item in their budget and made cuts
where where possible, furthest away from the classroom. Can I make one point, Michelle, for for anybody who may be watching from home and seeing this slide? I got this question about athletics repeatedly throughout the Override campaign. Um, and so I want to be clear, the total cost to the district
to run the complement of athletic programs that we currently have is about $360,000 a year. That that programming through gate fees and student athletic fees generates about $200,000 in revenue. So
it leaves the district with a balance of $160,000 that we budget to pay out of district to maintain the athletic programs. I think there was some confusion that people were just seeing the 160 and the 200 and assuming that this was operating at a profit to the
district of $40,000. It is not. It is operating at a deficit or cost to the district of $160,000 annually. Just I've said it 17 times. I just every time we bring that slide up, I just want to reiterated it. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. Um, and you know, we looked at our budget again
and you know, we appreciate the community support and we were looking at, you know, gate fees and we were looking at um, athletic fees for the sport and we haven't increase those in I think it's around 7 years. Um so we we chose this year not to increase those
fees unless um there might be one instance where we might have to for a particular sport but we chose to keep those fees flat. Um and you know we will continue to look into it um you know in the future but for this year we decided
to keep those um fees flat for this year. Another reminder to families, there are discounts if you have multiple children participating in multiple sports a year. There are also uh discounts and free and a waiver of those fees for families that qualify for free or reduced lunch. Great.
>> All right. Um, another really exciting thing that we continue to do is we get to continue that transforming the middle school experience and we are doing that through position conversions. Right? So if we had a teacher retiring that
position was converted into a world language teacher. We are not adding positions. We are converting positions. We had planned to do that sort of from the start but it would not have been we we could not do that if the override was
not successful. So world language we are going to have band and chorus as scheduled classes. We're going to be able to create uh we'll have two steam teachers. We'll have one right for the middle school and we'll have one for elementary. And you know when I um when
I came to the district, you know, people are saying, "Oh, every year it sort of skips a grade and sometimes kids miss out like they'll have it in first in steam in the elementary. They'll have it in first and third and then it got switched so they missed it for a couple years." So we don't that won't happen.
Um, and these classes aren't luxury classes. So, we did a deep analysis into what other school communities are offering their students. And this is bare minimum, right? These position conversions and these classes are are
part of the everyday sort of happenings at the middle school, right? So, we are not adding, we are not the I I couldn't find a middle school that did not offer world language pretty much anywhere.
>> I looked and you know, thinking about things like steam that is basic classes that kids have the opportunity to take across across the Commonwealth. So it is just bringing us basically what I would
call like an equitable a more equitable learning experience for kids in East Hampton. So I don't want anybody to think like we're offering this is a bare minimum offering. Um and what we are doing is being a little bit more
innovative in a costneutral way with our um compass core courses. So we are taking some teachers um and they are going to be teaching different content uh for next year. So we're incorporating digital literacy, financial literacy,
and civics and media literacy in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade because we know and we heard from kids that they need more realworld learning experiences. They need higher levels of content that's engaging. We asked them what they wanted. this is what they told
us they wanted. So, we're being responsive to not only the students, but we're being responsive to our community who has said, right, our kids need to know how to do things like balancing u their budget. They need to know the
difference between wants and needs. They need to know how to be safe online. So, these courses um we're currently creating the content for these courses. is we have a team of teachers at the middle school who are developing the coursework in partnership with the with
CES the collaborative to help us really create um meaningful content for kids. I cannot wait. Um I think this is these core classes and the way we've reimagined the schedule for middle school is going to be so powerful for
our kids. And we know that m the middle school is sort of the bridge from your elementary to your high school experience. And successful middle school is really what determines your high school trajectory. If you have a solid
grasp of academic um excellence in middle school, your path to high school and that ninth grade becomes, you know, it it become you're more you're more likely to be successful, right? We need to see attendance increase. We're going to be monitoring this all through the
strategic planning work, but we, you know, we're we're going to be looking at grades, attendance, and we're going to be measuring, right, student success through these measures. And we we truly believe that these are the things. Um, and and if they're not successful, we
will revisit and refine and reflect and it'll be a very iterative process because we are not going to be complacent in our decision- making here. We are going to keep evolving because that's what kids deserve. >> Um, can I make a comment about this slide? Do you mind? >> First, I want to highlight for the
public that we are maintaining our band and chorus offerings at the middle school. Um, and that they will now be offered as scheduled courses. Um, which is wonderful. And I want to just highlight like the the true power of what you're talking about is not it's
not just yes this is um the steam and world language and access to music and arts is the baseline in the commonwealth but it it is it is more than just core. It is also offering exposure and enrichment which I think is part of that
um key to unlocking success not just in high school but later in life that when you're at you know when you're 11 12 and 13 to be exposed to differing cultures to music to arts to technology all of these types of it just it rebuilds your
brain and helps you revisit as you're figuring out who you are as a person I just I'm full of feelings and super inarticulate but I am most proud of all the work that we've done. I I am just so incredibly proud and excited about this
middle school transformation. >> And the teachers are too. The teachers who are working on this content are excited. And you know, we used to stick say the eighth grade civics project. We try to, you know, like squeeze it in. And it's not just about civics, it's
also about media literacy, too, right? So, you know, we try to stick it into the civics course, but it it will and if you've ever gone if you went to the civics action project and you saw those projects that the kids did, they had some great ideas and I was like, "Oh, we need to do that, right? Sidewalks and
they were talking about pedestrian safety and those are the types of things they they learned a lot about their community, which is so important um particularly for, you know, future civic action. And what a great display that
we've just I mean we just had like the largest civic action project here in with the override and I think you know getting kids um aware of what's happening in their community is so important >> clearly a thirst for it when you look at the weed the people enrollment you know so >> yep
>> yeah and how do we continue to develop and lean into what we're really good at and who we are as a community um and this this is the way >> I have one question we do have eliminating the CES membership on there which I understand and agree with what do we know what the timeline like what
how does that membership like when does it >> does yearly um in July >> July >> I think it is in July >> just want to juice that orange as much as we can for however much time we've left >> I guess I was in and out >> yeah so um you know and again we're
still going to we still will apply for any grants >> um that come our way and if we can get a grant that will um cover some of these things we will do it. Um, and if I know Julianne, um, she's going to be working
very hard to seek the grants. And, you know, I think we heard loud from the community that, um, we want to keep personnel off grants, right? We will do our continue to do our curriculum updating through grants. We were, um, we have some great news coming, which I
can't share yet, but about a couple grants that we were awarded, but very excited about that work to continue. And I mean I think when you know you're in a tight budget situation, you have to seek those grant opportunities and we will continue to do so and maybe some of these things can come back.
>> And let's highlight for the public that those grants require hours and hours of work and a very high level of expertise. So when we say that we will continue to seek out grants, of course we will. But let's also understand that is sucking manpower and and not just anybody can
see can seek those successfully. It really does require a deep understanding and expertise >> and and a lot of work in reporting and budgetary implications and um sometimes you know Julia will be like that you can't we can't possibly even the grants
that they publish like sometimes districts can't even meet the expectations in the grants. So we have a good team who you know can sort of sift through some of the grants and you know we we want to go for the grants that will yield um the best result >> and don't oblige us to things that we
can't honor. Yep. Exactly. >> Especially fiscally. >> Yep. Um and we're still, you know, reducing anywhere and everywhere we can here contracted services, tutoring, supplies, network maintenance, deferrals. Um we just have to do it right now. And we're going to seek other
revenue streams to help supplement our own budget here in the school department. And um Julia is also very good at that. So, you know, we've talked a little bit about the copier update, but just stay tuned for more of those sort of innovative things that we'll do
to generate income as well for us, our revenue streams. >> Questions? Yes. Yeah. >> I just wanted to Well, first of all, thank you for this and thank you for all the work that you've done and um thank you for bearing with us through the override. >> Um, welcome to East Hampton. Um,
>> glad to be here. I just wanted to say since we were talking about grants um and I heard a lot from the community about don't hire positions out of grants and I just want to offer a different opinion yeah on that which I I think you know and the some grants that you might apply for that include staff or include
money for staff they're in you have them for a certain number of years you might have them for two or three years and that's kind of the only way that we get to try new things out sometimes is um through a grant where they're paying for the staff. we don't necessarily know if this type of program is going to be a
good fit for our district. Um if it is a good fit for our district, we can decide if we want to add that into our budget. But I just want to clarify that like when you know I don't think it's a bad thing necessarily to seek out grants that include personnel because even if it's only for two or three years, that's a long time for a kid and that can make
a big difference in the lives of of children. So, I just want to um just offer a different perspective um and a little bit more nuanced. >> I say apply for all the grants that you think would be um appropriate for East Hampton. >> We do. >> Anyone else have comments? Yeah.
>> Um I just I want to thank you, Dr. Balch, for your integrity in presenting a budget that has cuts. Um because we certainly, you know, we had all presented a budget
where we were very excited and vibrant and we could take a deep breath and be really excited especially about the transformation in the middle school. And that transformation was based on actual real need. And I and I really want to
underscore that the the public has seen the need, the students, the teachers, administrators across the board. And so right before the news about needing a massive override,
um we were all excited. Um, we're bearing the kind of burden of this still this cut. >> Mhm. >> And I am so appreciative
of your attention to detail and your return to the mission. really deeply having the vision and still with an understanding that we're doing it in a in a in a position where we're still
having to swallow some really difficult choices. Um, and it takes a really a lot from a leader to maintain hope in in the face of sort of, you know,
concern um, and a little bit of a dismissal about education. Um, when you have a cut like that, almost a million dollars, I mean, I think Sam said it at another uh meeting we had once, if we had heard about a
million dollar cut, we would have gone out of our minds. >> And so, I don't want us ever to become complacent. When education is cut, we are making real decisions that affect the lives of our entire community. Um,
and it's concerning deeply. And so I really I thank you for your leadership in the middle of something that is profoundly difficult to muster and you are maintaining
a really amazing attitude about it. And I thank you deeply because we really have to work hard and dig deep to actually maintain our faith in a system that is really challenging our budgets.
And so thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> I appreciate Bonnie who again and again comes with the best possible pastor energy. Jess, did you have a comment? >> Yeah. Um I just wanted to thank you for increasing like civic education in the middle school. I think it's very important. And I thought it was very
cool to see the amount of civic participation in the whole override movement. There were countless students who were involved who wanted to get involved, who really stepped up um when they heard what was going to happen to the schools if it didn't pass. Um and I
thought that was really cool. There were students who were at the standouts that they did not need to be at that were at random hours, not close to school hours that sacrificed their sleeping in on weekends to come stand out. Um, and I just kind of wanted to highlight that and I thought that was really cool. And
after the override had passed, when I was going around telling everyone, um, a response I got from Tommy, someone, a 10th grader who's put in a ton of work on the override movement, um, he texted me, he said, "Okay, what's next?" I said, "What do you mean by that?" And he
said, "Are we going to the state? Are we joining other schools? What's going on?" >> And I said, "Okay, let's wait for tomorrow to talk about that." But I think fostering that type of want because a lot of students want to be more involved. Um, and I think fostering that like kind of mentality is really
important and I think that's what like you're definitely trying to do with this um new curriculum. >> I agree. You know, like embrace who you are as a community I think is really important and it's one of like the the values of this community, right, is
civic participation. And I think the the the more excited we can get our youth in that. We have this we have a such a strong student council. We have we the people. We have um a new program at the middle school that is about student
voice and leveraging that. And I see it in our curriculum even our CKLA curriculum. It's writing persuas persuasive essays. I got 20 essays from second graders about recess time. And um you know I I love it. Right. That is
exactly we want kids to know and we think about the playground project and you know how do we continue to develop our young people into being our our civic leaders and that starts with education and it starts with us. M
>> Linda, >> I just wanted to just jump on a little bit to what you said, Jess, and again, is that um I've had several people who came and stopped and told me that the students being involved in the Yes made a difference in their vote.
>> They they said seeing the students care and having that made them really see the community. And I think from the beginning of me becoming part of the school committee, I've always talked about trying to bring the schools. The schools are the community. The community
is with the schools. I was extremely heartened to see the fire, the police, the schools all come together. We are one community. We aren't a separate community. There isn't the schools and then this and then this. We are all one. So having that and
again several people said to me the schools are our community. The more that we can interact that they can see the students that older people people who don't have children can see it makes a stronger community and schools for all
of us. And I just think that was really important for those students. I want them to realize how important their voices were. >> Yeah. So I should say something. >> Okay, >> Megan to your teed up after Eric. Go ahead, Eric.
>> Uh, so yeah, just understanding that um the override was a real life highlighting of why we need all the these civics courses. I mean, it was an in your face like this is what we're talking about. Um, and I think that it's also important to recognize every district has their thing and we have
many things, but we the people is a shining star in our district. And I think it would be foolish to think that it's going to maintain the same way forever because Kelly Brown will eventually retire. So I think the district is intelligent to think we need to let this information and these ideas
seep down lower into the ground of elementary school and middle school and create this culture that when they get to high school, it's not just a there's we the people. Oh, I've been doing this for years. And I think it's important for the kids to see like Jess mentioned standing out and doing certain things. I was talking to my own son. You know, you
can watch Hamilton and it's exciting and you can talk about Washington crossing the Delaware, but the real work that those people did and all the people. It's talking to other people. It's having meetings. It's not the fun and exciting stuff that you see in history, but that's what kids get to see. Like, oh, you have to go stand out and talk to
people and talk to people you disagree with and people that you agree with and not change minds all the time, but just hear other people and what their what their point of view is. So I think that was a great highlighted moment for our city and I think it's yeah keep on plowing straight ahead.
>> Megan >> I don't have much uh eloquent words to say many eloquent words to say. I want to echo what everyone has shared and the thanks to Dr. Balsh and the thank you to everybody who worked on that committee to get us where we need to be. Um to the
students I went over and and talked to them as I was walking in to vote. Um, and just as I was there, someone, an older person, um, not an older person, just a person stopped by and I couldn't tell what they were sort of saying. I think in this case it happened to be
something that was less supportive, but I just I was in that moment reminded that our students have such composure. Um, they just said, "Thank you for coming to vote anyway." And just let the person move past. It just was this nice moment of like seeing that disagreement
happen in real time. and seeing the the poise of our students and um I just was moved to to share that after hearing what Jess said. I was really moved by Tommy wanting to know what what to do next. Um so yeah, just wanted to say thank you to you all.
>> You got something to say? >> I just have I have a question. >> Sure. Go ahead. So, I've gotten some questions in the last week about school choice and I was just kind of wondering like is what are we kind of expecting
next year in terms of like kids choicing in to our district? Do we is it too early to like have an idea really? Have we been getting a lot of questions about that? >> Yeah. So, we held our sort of a preliminary um choice
um lottery. >> Yeah. Um we it was only a couple kids. Um but we are going to once we figure out like our staffing um a lot of our um students who are tracing in are in kindergarten and first grade where our
highest numbers of people on the wait list. So we are trying to look at our K enrollment numbers um and if there's space we will um ch open up more school choice slots. And that's I guess I just want to like and I know it's kind of we
look at it as like a you know school like if we got the override through we might be able to keep um having kids choice in and that's a revenue source and I just want to make sure the public realizes that there are like other considerations that come with that. We have other kids who move into our district in the summer. We have to make
sure that we have space for them. We've kept our our school choice slots at pretty much the same number for the last few years. It's the $922,000 that we had from our level service that requires us to cut our choice. >> Yeah, exactly. >> Let's be very clear. We could have had
more, but we are required to cut $922,000. >> Um, I would love to like I mean, we're going to have more conversations about this as the year goes on and when things are a little bit more stable and we've got kind of a better idea. But um I definitely see us as kind of being in a place where we're like right on the edge
of really kind of blowing up in a good way, not a bad way. >> Um and I feel like that that's that's new for me here. Like I haven't really felt that way about here before. So I'm excited about that and I'm um just relieved and um really grateful. And um
you know and I also just want to recognize like this there were a lot of people in our community who did not vote for the override for various reasons and um I just want to say to all of them that like I you know I just I appreciate everybody being involved in the process
and we've heard all the feedback and I'm taking it very seriously and I know like this is a um this is a tough time for costs to go up for everybody. Um, and uh, we're we're still we're still all in it together, you know. So,
>> I agree. Um, and I think, you know, while we do we have our school choice slots that are open, right, will probably maintain the majority of those choicing in. And I think that, you know, with continued success in our high school and our middle school programming, I think, you know, we want
to get kids back that live in East Hampton who chose to maybe not send their kids to middle school or send their kids to EHS. And we're looking at um you know, we're part of the accelerating achievement program at the high school. So looking at really
refining our pathways for for the high school and trying to think okay what are opportunities that the collaborative or um CEC has and where's there a gap that we could fill right we have you know could we open potentially like a social
work pathway or a public safety pathway that aren't offered at some of those programs to try you know to so we don't have kids leaving right to Smith voke or we want to keep as many kids, you know, that are in East Hampton in our schools. >> Yeah, >> absolutely.
>> Let's let me just highlight this for the public. >> I get a lot of questions about choice, too. And and I think that um it's a common misconception to believe that we could write this ship if we just took in more choice students. >> Yeah. >> So, let me say this clearly. To make any
substantial increase in our choice slots, it is going to require a significant increase in investment in school spending and our school budget. That is not on the table. Has been made very clear to us. Not on the table for this fiscal year. But in March of next
year, we'll be having this conversation about the following year. So, if everyone still believes that that's a good pathway forward, they're going to have to follow it up with some actual dollars because it is impossible for us to make those kind of expansions without
the financial investment. >> That's it. That's the quote. Yeah. >> Mayor, did you have any thoughts? >> I do >> that you want to share in this meeting at this time to share them right now. I feel like enough has been said. I think the bases have been covered. I mean, I
think there's a lot of um accolades to go around. I think that Sam is right to to say that, you know, this was a difficult decision probably for everybody. Um and, you know, at the end of the day, making these cuts are not easy, but I think it speaks to the fact
that even with the override, we were we were in, you know, such a place that we still need to make cuts. We still need to tighten our belts, and that's going to come with shared sacrifice across the board. Um, and so I think really the next step is to find a pathway into the
future where we can really control some of these costs and and find new sources of revenue to be able to find balance. Um, because that's the only way that we're going to be able to avoid the situation in the future, >> right? I would say I think that applies
very much to the majority of the departments in the city. I think where the schools are different is that we have identified the revenue generators. What those revenue generators require is investment. >> So, we're going to have to figure out how to increase that investment year-over-year to increase the revenue generators to just see those things
really take off. I want to take two seconds to thank our central office staff, our administrators, and the people who are helping to keep a very large population of teachers and staff who are dealing
with a lot of uncertainty and stress. And the leadership at the top with Michelle and Julia and Julian and Antiggony was incredibly poised and supportive and clear. We're
eternally grateful for that. I spent that night of the election night with our central office staff and our administrators and um I'm continually wowed by them. And um and I I want to extend that also to the leadership we've seen in other city departments. And I think this might be
the first time in my tenure in the city where I've seen us have such a true deep and meaningful collaboration across departments. And for anyone who is not aware, you should be eternally grateful for Chief Chad, for Chief Norris, for the EPD officers, for the firefighters,
EMTs, and paramedics that we hire. These these are not just people who are excellent professionals. These are decent, caring, compassionate people who I had the pleasure to spend a lot of time with over the past six weeks. Um, and so just I'm just we are so grateful
and we are so fortunate and we we I know that people are are scared of these rising costs of tax bills, but what you saved by passing that override are is this this incredible group of people um who leave it all on the floor for the city every day?
Uh, anybody else? Okay, it's too many too many feelings lately. Jesus God. All right, let's move on to a business update. Julia, >> no feelings, nothing. >> Give us some numbers, some facts. Yes.
Uh, good evening everyone. The first item on my report is the local appropriation report. So, according to data, as of 53126, 92% of the local appropriation has been spent or encumbered. Um that number is a little high and it's because we have
hadn't at that point processed the year-end transfers for the planned budget offsets. Um we use school choice and circuit breaker revenue as part of our budgeting process and throughout the year we spend against the general fund and then at some magic moment when I
decide I have the time and energy and the capacity to do it, we process those journal entries um to move those expenses off of the general fund onto the planned budget offsets. Um, and so those uh were actually processed last week. And so, um, at the June at the next meeting, I should be able to give
you a better idea of where we're looking at closing out FY26. Um, next item on my report is the food service administrative review. Um, so DESIE conducted their required triannual administrative review of our food service program on April 14th, uh, 2026.
Um, overall the review was very positive and they had lots of great things to say about our food service program and our offerings and the meals that we are providing to the students of East Hampton. They identifi identify a couple of areas of corrective action for us. Um, as part of their review, they identified that we don't currently have
a meal modification policy in place. Um, we are doing all the right things, right? We are responding to families who would like different meals offered for u religious, medical, dietary, all of those needs. we are doing all the right things. We just don't have a policy that says we are doing that. Um so this
policy is a requirement for participating in the national school lunch program. So I am recommending that the policy subcommittee review the provided model policy from MASC and to develop a policy based on that for EPSD. Next item on my report um is also
related to food service. Um the summer food program is going to continue to run in East Hampton this year. Uh, we will be running the program out of Mountain View School. Meals will be available 5 days a week and must be consumed on site. Information will be distributed to the community in an advertisement that
will place be placed in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. I know that Gan is working on putting some things out through Parent Square, sending some flyers home with students and um I believe I already saw a sign up by the library the weekend. So, we want to make sure that all our families know that meals will be available. Uh, the program
will run from June 29th through August 14th. Breakfast will be available from 8:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. and lunch will be from 11:15 to 12:30 p.m. And the last uh food service related item is um our current contract with
Chartwells, that is our food service management company, that's the term that Desi uses, um included a three-year contract with two one-year options to renew. So that contract was structured very similar to the way our big bus contract is structured. So, the first
three-year term of that was in FY23, 24, and 25. Uh, this time last year, I asked the committee to vote to approve the first one-year extension to that contract for year 4. Um, and so I'm asking the committee to exercise the option for the second one-year extension. Um, I believe it is in the
best financial interest of the district to extend the current contract. And so, I'm requesting that the school committee vote to exercise that. So, in your packet there is a suggestion motion. >> Do you want us to do that now? >> Um, should we do both? Do you want me to do that now, Julia, or do you want me to
do both when you're done with the report? >> Uh, up to you. >> Okay, let's just do it now. Uh, I will entertain a motion to approve exercising the option for the second one-year renewal extension with Chartwells for food service management for fiscal year 27.
>> So moved. >> Can I get a second? >> I'll second. Thank you, Sam. And thank you, Bonnie. Um, we are going to roll call that vote. Mayor, >> yes. >> Bonnie, >> yes. >> Eric, >> yes. >> Megan, >> yes. >> Sam, >> yes. >> Linda, >> yes.
>> And Laura Scott, yes. Motion passes. Thank you, Julia. Keep going. >> Thank you. Uh, last item on the agenda uh is year-end transfers, right? Um, at this point in the year, um, we have a lot of line items that are either in positive
or negatives because things change throughout the year, rates go up, things happen. Um, and so typically I ask the school committee to give me blanket authorization to approve budget transfers to balance out our line items and close out the FY26 budget. typically
line items that cross um either major functional categories or groups that are over $5,000. If those transfers happen during the year, I bring those transfer requests to the school committee, right? But as I'm closing out their budget, there may be a number of those as I'm moving sub
expenses from MVS to EHS or from right an unspent teacher line item to cover a substitute line item. So there may be a number of transfers that are over $5,000. So I'm asking sort of blanket approval to allow me to do that to close out the fiscal year. So again there is a suggested motion.
>> Okay. Uh I will entertain a mot I will entertain a motion to approve authorization for the director of business services to complete budget transfers as necessary to balance and close out the fiscal year 26 budget. >> So moved. >> Thank you. Sam, can I get a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Bonnie, are there any
questions, comments, or discussions about this before we vote? Okay, seeing none, we're going to roll call. Mayor, >> yes. >> Bonnie, >> yes. >> Eric, >> yes. >> Megan, >> yes. >> Sam, >> yes. >> Linda, >> yes. >> And Laura Scott, yes. Thank you, Julia.
>> Uh, last on my report is the personnel report for the month of May. There was no personal report because there was no personal activity for the month of May. >> So, we were just in a holding pattern. >> Yes. >> Great. Um, any other questions for Julia? Um, just thank you for um,
getting the summer food program up and going. Wasn't sure that was going to survive. >> Also, all of the other stuff you've done, like the three budgets, >> everything. >> It's a It's been an interesting first rodeo. >> Yeah, >> we're It's like this every year. Just kidding. >> Just kidding.
>> It's not funny. It's only a joke if it's funny, Sam. It's only a joke if it's funny. All right. Thank you so much, Julia. Thank you. All right, we are moving on to school committee updates. Um Sam, do you now want to just schedule a policy meeting to mop up that quick little
>> You know what? I was going to schedule one for um I'm about to go away for a long time. Um in a good way, like going to Pennsylvania for a couple of weeks. Um so I was going to say maybe July 13th before our school committee meeting, but
then we moved that school committee meeting. So, um, >> why don't you do it July 13th? That gives you plenty of time. Then you'll have a >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, I just I I'll Is that okay with you, Eric, and Linda? >> That's okay with me. It >> might be. I will check. >> Okay. Okay. Well, you guys will figure
it out sometime so that we can have a first reading at the next school meeting. Okay, great. >> Um, and then we will also have to talk about what to do about our policy project because that I think is one of the things we got to cut with the 922.
So, we just still have to do that work. Uh, so we got to figure that out. Um, >> I've been talking with Liz and I've got some ideas. So, >> um, all right. Uh, finance subcommittee update, Megan, there's really >> what more finance update could could we want?
>> I don't have any official update. Um, but the way that it sounded like Sam was saying he was going to go to jail just then, which he's not doing, but that's typically what goes away for a long time. >> I'm also voting. I've been away for a long time. Um,
>> a >> All right. Um, yeah, finance typically kicks off its work in the fall. Uh, so that's what I expect. >> You guys can take some time off. Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, maybe not. Uh, we're just going to do all the policy work alongside you more. True. There we go.
>> Uh, CES, Linda, do you have an update? >> Yes, I do. >> Let's have it. >> Well, I >> for another minute. Anyway, >> I attended my first meeting and I was really enjoying the work that I was going to be digging myself right into and I'll be attending, I suppose, my
last meeting in June, where I will tell everyone goodbye after I said hi. Um, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was really uh interesting. They had gone through a lot of changes as Sam had highlighted before. They're
about to have their director come on. Meen will be leaving. They had a lot of positive things to talk about. Marine, you were doing some really good work. And uh bye. See you. >> Just a reminder to the public, this is um the local education collaborative of which we are one of I don't know 37
districts, 37 member districts. >> A lot. >> Um there is uh it is a few thousand dollars a year, I believe, um and as a membership for that program. And that is one of the multitude things that we cut um just try to keep the cups the cuts as
far away from the classroom as possible. Um so they do they have given us a lot of support. Um they support our equity team. They do a lot of a lot of support. But uh beggars can be choosers. So here we are. >> Well and we can work with them. We just
don't get the member discount. >> And I'm assuming if we can't afford the membership, we probably can't afford to contract their services year. One of the things that we get from them, like one of the things that we could use from them is like heck Academy for instance, if we had a student who needed to be placed there and if um but you know if
we were members that tuition would be cheaper, >> right? Right. >> But we're not going to be members anymore. So it's just another example of like cutting >> how the investment is cutting off your nose budget like puts us in a situation where we spend more money later. But >> there was a discussion about the differentmies, the students that go to
them and the work that's done there. And I think that they do important work and I think they were about ready to really do their work in a maybe better, more thoughtful way with the new director. You know, they were working a lot on >> um really changing some of their
handbook. They're, you know, really going through. They'd had a lot of positive feedback from staff members. So, you know, they'd had just a real thorough kind of time to be reflective and change and so
we'll see and I hope that they continue on. Well, >> okay. Thank you very much, Linda. Uh, well, East Hampton, our next meeting, uh, I just mentioned earlier, it was originally scheduled for July 14th. We are pushing that back to July 21. After
that, we'll have a meeting in August on August 11. Um, I am considering also scheduling a work session maybe to do some of this policy work, but none of that is on the books yet. Um, so with all of that being said, any other do you have something you'd like to share?
>> The vote on the budget and vote on the budget. I think that um so the superintendent points out that we need to pass either we either need to rescend our level service budget that we approved on March 24th and pass a new budget or we can
simply pass an amendment that adopts the cuts suggested in the amount of is it 922 flat or is there a >> 922 603 604 hold on 922 >> 922 2603
>> flat. No change. >> 50. >> 50. Jesus Christ, the 50 cents. We needed the 50 cents. Okay, that's why >> it's been a long month. Okay. I would entertain a motion to approve an amendment to our level service budget
that we passed on March 24th, 2026 to reflect reductions in the amount of 922,63.50. 50 cents. >> So moved. >> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Linda. Any comments,
questions, >> or >> Yeah. >> Yeah. It's not great, everybody, but better than 2.77 million. That's about all I got. >> I mean, it's a hard, you know, it's a hard uh it's a hard thing to say yes to.
Let's be very clear that when we build our next budget, we are going to have to be asking the city to help us build back to maintain. This is just enough that we can protect >> critical programming and services. We are going to have to build this budget back over the next few years and we are
going to need a partnership from the city to do that. And I know that we have that support because we saw it during that override campaign. So, we are gonna take this as a temporary hit and we're gonna bounce back better than ever in FY27. 28 28 >> 28
>> Jesus. All right. So, we're going to roll call vote on that. Uh, mayor, >> yes. >> Bonnie, >> yes. >> Eric, >> abstain. >> Abstain. He has to. Not for philosophical reasons. Um, someone in his immediate family is um an employee of the school district. Everybody Megan
>> reluctantly. Yes. >> I know. Sam, >> yes. >> Linda, >> yes. >> Laura Scott, yes. Um, so our amended budget passes this evening.
>> I will on that note. Uh, entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Thank you, mayor. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Sam. Uh, Mayor, >> yes. >> Bonnie, >> yes. Eric, >> good night. >> Megan, >> yes. Good night,
>> Sam. >> Yes, >> Linda. >> Yes. >> All right. Good night, East Hampton. And we will see you on July 21st at 6 p.m. for our next regular session meeting.